


Cinderella

by Pyrolitheus



Category: Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Cinderella - All Media Types
Genre: Aromantic Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Cinderella AU, F/F, F/M, Feminist Themes, Gen, Lesbian Character, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Pansexual Character, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Queer Character, Queer Culture, Queer Families, Queer Themes, Queerplatonic Relationships, Spoonie character, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, relationship anarchy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyrolitheus/pseuds/Pyrolitheus
Summary: It's Cinderella's story, except you've never read this version before. It's kinda queer.A note regarding the content notices: This story has clear depictions of gaslighting, manipulation, and transphobia. These things are treated as inexcusable. There is some physical scuffling and destruction of property, but the only injury is caused by accident so I did not mark the "graphic depictions of violence" box.A note regarding audience age: This content is suitable or some children younger than teens. There is no sexual content. "Teen and up" was selected due to the emotional and mental abuse Cinderella suffers from her step mother.





	1. Special Days

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic, so please note that if you choose to read this, you read at your own risk. I provide no quality guarantees. All useful feedback is welcome in the comments!

Cinderella woke up happy, with the early morning light making a line across her nose from the slit between her bedroom shutters on the other side of her wardrobe. Outside the birds were singing their morning songs. Inside, she was comfortably nestled into the soft, clean linens on the dramatic four post bed her father had built for her with his own hands. It had been a gift for her sixteenth birthday exactly three years prior.

With a grin, Cinderella pushed the covers off of her body, then swung her legs out of bed, and stretched with a yawn. She stood, turned to tug the linens back into place, then excitedly pulled her pale green nightgown up over her head and replaced it with a white shift. Over that went her favorite blue dress, which she buttoned into place with pretty silver buttons before slipping into the matching blue slippers her late mother had made for her herself just before she died two and a half years prior. They were sturdy blue slippers covered in delicate blue lace her mother had made by hand.

Cinderella paused with her feet in the shoes to think of her mother with love in her heart.

“I love you, Mamma,” she said quietly. “You would have been proud of me over the last year, and I will make you proud of me this year too.”

Next, she opened the shutters to let the light in and carefully pulled the pale blue-gray silk sleeping cap from her hair. Sitting before her mirror, she adjusted her hair for the day, taking extra care as it was her birthday and she wanted to look her best both for herself and for the afternoon’s guests.

“Cinderella!” her father’s voice called up the stairs. “Are you ready yet, my child?”

“Yes Papa, here I come!”

She scampered down the stairs towards the loving smile twinkling in her father’s eyes. He embraced her warmly, though she teased him by standing on the last step.

“You are already taller than me,” he said, “it should be me on that step!”

They laughed, as they did every time this happened.

Breakfast was already waiting for them, made by their diligent house staff. She was delighted that he had risen early for her birthday. He did so every year, knowing she prefers to rise early despite his preference for late nights and just as late mornings.

“Thank you for joining me for breakfast today,” Cinderella said.

“Lady Tremaine and her daughters won’t be here until lunch,” he said, “as that is a more reasonable hour to be awake, much less at another’s home.”

“Oh but it will be their home too soon, won’t it?”

“Indeed,” her father said.

“Oh, how happy we will be!” Cinderella said. “They are such lovely people, and it will be so very nice to have them here.”

They ate breakfast at a leisurely rate, exclaiming at the skill of their cook and enjoying one another’s company.

“You know, Cinderella…” her father interrupted a pleasant silence but proceed to allow his voice trail off.

“Yes, Papa?”

“I never expected to remarry after your mother passed on, but I certainly did not expect to marry before you.”

“Oh, Papa, I am only nineteen!”

“Yes, you are nineteen, and that means you are an adult. It is high time you start thinking about your future. If you don’t want to marry, I will of course support you in whatever you choose instead, but it must be a choice. It must be intentional. Come now, darling, let us discuss your future.”

Cinderella was silent for a long moment.

“Papa, I...I have been so content here that I wish nothing more than to go on just like this.”

“I won’t live forever, my dear. I keep us well-fed, I provide us with what we need to hire the staff. Without a source of income, you will eventually lose everything. Whether you find that in a spouse who desires to work, or find work for yourself, something will have to change eventually. It’s far better to figure out which change you seek while you have time to create the life you wish to have than to allow fate to determine your life for you.”

“Yes, Papa.”

A moment of comfortable shared silence passed between them while he gave her space to think.

“Papa?”

“Yes dear?”

“I never asked you this before because it seemed rude, but I think it might help me understand how these things work. How much of your income comes from your work, and how much of it comes from your relationship with the King?”

Her father laughed a hearty laugh.

“Oh my dear,” he said, “none of our money comes from Thomas. To take taxes from the People and give them to his lovers would be wildly unethical and not at all something he would do. Indeed, if he was that sort of man, I would promptly lose interest.”

After a moment, he added, “Both as a lover and as a King, come to think of it.”

“So you make all this money through your writing and your job at the bank?”

“Yes.”

“Why is it that you are paid so very much for your work when other people are paid so very little? You must make more than our staff’s wages combined or you would not be able to pay them, yet they seem to work much harder than you.”

They spent the rest of the morning discussing the nature of the Kingdom’s economy and brainstorming jobs and careers that Cinderella might enjoy until Lady Tremaine and her daughters arrived for lunch.

A beautiful open carriage pulled by a pair of freshly brushed horses arrived right on time. The Tremaine family driver stepped down from the driver's seat and opened the carriage door. Lady Tremaine stepped out, wearing a green ruffled dress with black detail. Anastasia and Drizelle Tremaine stepped out next. Drizelle wore beige, Anastasia yellow. Lady Termaine and her daughters had clearly dressed up for the occasion, much to Cinderella’s delight. She rushed to meet them, embracing each in turn with expressions of welcome. Each returned them warmly.

The driver pulled the carriage around to where it belonged as the party returned to the dining room.

“Oh my,” Lady Tremaine said upon seeing the birthday lunch, “What a splendid spread! Your cook has really done an amazing job today.”

“Yes, indeed!” Cinderella replied.

Cinderella’s father took the head of the table. Lady Tremaine sat next to him, and Cinderella sat next to her. Anastasia and Drizelle sat on the other side of the table. As they arranged themselves, the driver returned from the carriage carrying three packages wrapped in matching blue paper, walking behind M. Fields, the Housekeeper. He placed them on a small tray near the door in response to a small gesture from M. Fields, and the two retreated from the room.

“Cinderella, dear, how old are you today?” Lady Tremaine asked.

“Nineteen,” she answered.

“That’s how old I am!” Anastasia replied, although everyone already knew that. She and Cinderella shared grins.

“It’s a good age,” Drizelle said, “Enjoy your teen years while they last.”

“Why Drizelle, you are only twenty yourself,” Lady Tremaine remarked.

Everyone laughed, including Drizelle.

“Let us eat!” Cinderella’s father said.

Gratefully, everyone began to pass serving dishes and fill up their plates. Cinderella’s favorite summer foods were all there. Fruits and squashes, breads, grains, and light meats. All served with lavish detail which must have taken the staff all day to prepare.

“Lady Tremaine, Papa,” Cinderella said after a while, “I am so very happy right now. I imagine that at our next feast, the one for your wedding, I will be even happier.”

Lady Tremaine and Cinderella’s father smiled at her and then turned to each other, taking hands the way that lovers sometimes do.

“We three will be the best of sisters,” Drizelle said sincerely.

“We practically are already!” Anastasia exclaimed.

The two to be wed watched and listened as the three young women chattered on about their excitement about living together. Cinderella’s father looked particularly content. After lunch was over, the young trio went out to play with a ball in the gardens. Lady Tremaine and Cinderella’s father stayed behind to talk.

“I am as excited as they are,” Lady Tremaine said, “although my reasons are different.”

“Oh?” he grinned at her. “What are your reasons?”

“I think you can guess,” she said. Returning his smile, she brought his hands to her lips and gently kissed them sweetly as she had done many times before.

“Your kisses are delightful,” he sighed. He always had the same response, but he always meant it, too.

“When we have combined our families, both our lives will become much noisier,” she continued, “but it will be so very nice to have each other’s help raising all these young adults and helping them sort their lives out.”

“Indeed! It has been hard since her mother died.”

“You have done well in her absence.”

“Thank you, my Love.”

They sat in comfortable silence, holding hands.

“How is your other lover?” he inquired after a little while.

“Oh, Katrina? She and her wife were over for dinner just last week. Both are well. I must say I enjoy getting along so well with her wife. It’s like earning an extra friend out of my romance with Katrina.”

“That does sound nice! The Ladies Punderson are lovely people,” Cinderella’s father replied, “I’m pleased that you are pleased with your relationships with them.”

“I am, although the contrast makes me a bit uneasy for our future marriage.”

“Oh? What contrast? What do you mean, my Love?” he sounded concerned.

“Darling, I mean the King. You and he have been lovers since before I truly knew you, and yet he doesn’t seem to take too kindly to me.”

“Has he been rude to you?”

“No, nothing like that,” she sighed. “I just wish I could be as friendly with him as I am with Lady Beatrice Punderson.”

“I see,” he said. “Thomas is a very busy man. You know that even I don’t get to see as much of him as I would like to, and we have been lovers for six years. I know you tend to value one on one time or time in small groups as an expression of friendship and affection, but that’s almost impossible to achieve with a King. He expresses his friendship in other ways. Look for it in how he talks to you next time we are at a Palace Ball.”

“Thank you, my Love. I will do that,” Lady Tremaine replied. “You know me well. That is indeed how I value connecting with those in my life.”

* * *

The wedding day finally arrived. On the Palace grounds, chairs were arranged in curved solid rows radiating out from a circular dais. Another semicircle of chairs faced the audience rows, arranged along the back edge of the raised dais. This wedding was special; it wasn’t every day that a lover of the King got married. People came from all over the Kingdom to watch.

Servants bustled about, adding bows to the backs of chairs, setting up tables for the feast which would follow the ceremony, directing guests to the patio where staff members with trays of horderves waited for them, and so on.

After the guests arrived and satisfied their travel-borne hunger with fruits and crackers and fermented vegetables and small bits of cheeses, it was time for the ceremony. Cinderella’s father, who was standing with Lady Tremaine, rang a bell to draw the guest’s attention.

“I should like to get married today,” he said the traditional words.

“I should like to as well,” Lady Tremaine altered the traditional words instead of repeating them verbatim. The gathered crowd shared a chuckle.

Together, they lead the way to the wedding seats. They took the stairs to the dais and sat in the two middle seats of the back row, facing the audience. They watched while everyone found seats and took their places. The Ladies Punderson took their seats next to Lady Tremaine. The King sat next to Cinderella’s father, and the King’s other two lovers sat on the other side of the King. Cinderella sat at one end of the row after the king’s lovers, and Anastasia and Drizelle took their seats at the far end from her next to Lady Beatrice Punderson.

As the guests settled into their seats, the Prince rose from the front row and stepped up to the dais.

“Dearly beloved, friends, family, lovers, and more,” Prince Thomas XIV began, “We are brought here today to witness the joining of lives in domestic union. I have the honor of guiding today’s ceremony.”

Cinderella listened while the Prince gave the traditional speech about families coming together to weather change and support one another. Glancing at Drizelle and Anastasia, she could see that her two closest friends were as eager to be her sisters as she was to be theirs. She was convinced that together, they would be able to handle anything life threw at them, and was looking forward to figuring out their various lives’ paths with each others’ help.

When the Prince finished speaking, he sat back down. Cinderella, her father, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizelle stood and formed a row facing the guests. Franklin Gifford, Esquire to the Prince, rose and passed a ceremonial bowl turned from wood to Cinderella.

“To our family, I bring my resources of both material wealth and heart,” she said, placing a stone fruit in the bowl, “and I will seek help from the rest of you when I need it.” She passed it to her father.

“To our family, I bring my resources of both material wealth and heart,” her father said, placing another fruit in the bowl. “I will provide for our family to the best of my ability, and I will seek help from the rest of you when I need it.” He passed the bowl to Lady Tremaine.

“To our family, I bring my resources of both material wealth and heart,” she said, placing her own fruit in the bowl. “I will provide for our family to the best of my ability, and I will seek help from the rest of you when I need it.” She passed the bowl to her daughters.

“To our family, I bring my resources of both material wealth and heart,” each one said in turn, also adding their own fruit. “And I will seek help from the rest of you when I need it.”

Prince Thomas XIV rose again, and took the traditional wedding bowl while the others took their seats.

“This bowl represents your family,” he said. “The fruit inside it represents your contributions. Work together, and your lives may be as sweet as this fruit.”

The Prince passed the bowl down to his Esquire.

“Witnessed here by the rest of their lovers,” the Prince said, “it is time to join the heads of this household in legal matrimony.”

The two in question rose and stood on each side of the Prince, facing the audience.

“Please take hands.”

They did. The Prince carefully placed a ceremonial red and gold ribbon over their hands.

“I hereby join your hands in marriage. You are forever legally bound as domestic partners, sharing your resources, skills, and strengths to run your home together. This union can only be dissolved by you.”

“It is time to join the rest of this family in legal domestic union,” the Prince said. “Please rise and take hands with the heads of your household.”

Anastasia, Drizelle, and Cinderella rose from their seats, and joined hands with each other and with their parents to form a circle around the Prince. He placed ceremonial ribbons over each additional pairing of hands around the circle.

“I hereby join your hands in domestic partnership. You are forever legally bound as a family, sharing your resources, skills, and strengths to run your home together. This union can only be dissolved by you.”

The audience pulled bells from their pockets and began ringing them to celebrate the union. It finally happened. They were finally a family.


	2. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where the content notice for major character death applies.

In the weeks that followed the wedding, Cinderella was kept very busy helping Anastasia and Drizelle get settled in their new home. She didn’t mind the work. In fact, she was thrilled to do it. The three worked together to unpack the women’s things and put everything in its new place. Their rooms were all right next to each other, with Cinderella’s in the middle. In the evenings before bedtime, they would meet there in Cinderella’s room in their nightgowns to gossip happily until one of their parents told them to sleep. Their father was always kind about it, which made him easy to obey. Lady Tremaine would sometimes appear cross about it. Anastasia and Drizelle assured Cinderella that their mother simply had bad moods at times, and that she would grow accustomed to it and learn not to take it personally. Cinderella felt a vague unease at this news, but was certain that with her sisters’ help, she would indeed live peacefully with Lady Tremaine.

The remaining summer months passed in much the same way. The happy couple, living with their happy young trio of daughters, had created a thriving, happy family. Or so it seemed from the outside. Unknown to anyone in the home or out of it, Cinderella was beginning to grow more and more uncomfortable living with Lady Tremaine. She often thought of the commitment she had uttered at her parents’ wedding, and wondered whether she ought to talk to anyone about what she was experiencing. She was afraid no one would believe her, for the things Lady Termaine did that made her uncomfortable were things she only did when no one but Cinderella was present. They were also very odd things, such as going out of her way to refer to Cinderella in any way other than by her name.

Fall came, and with it a chill began to join the crisp morning air. Their father began to cough. It was a light cough, and he otherwise felt fine. Cinderella thought nothing of it and assured her sisters that he experiences such a thing every fall. Assured by her words, their evening conversations turned to other matters.

“Cinderella,” Drizelle said one early winter night in Cinderella’s room, “you have been awfully quiet lately. Is everything okay?”

Drizelle and Anastasia looked expectantly at Cinderella. She wavered. She considered her vow and weighed it against her fears. Suddenly, she decided.

“If I tell you, do you promise to keep it between us?”

“Oh, yes!” said Anaastasia. Drizelle nodded emphatically.

“Even if…” her voice trailed off. The others waited patiently where they sat with her on her bed while she picked words.

“Would you keep this between us and not even talk to our parents about it, even if it concerns one of them?”

“Cinderella, you look frightened!” Anastasia said.

“Please, tell us what is wrong, so we can help you,” Drizelle said.

“After all,” Anastasia said more gently, “You did promise to ‘ask for help’ not too long ago.”

Cinderella hesitated.

“I swear I won’t tell a soul,” Drizelle said, “not even one of our parents.”

Anastasia nodded. “You can count on me too, I won’t tell anyone!”

Cinderella sighed. She didn’t understand until that moment just how scared she was to talk to anyone at all.

“Well...it’s...it’s Lady Tremaine.”

“Go on,” Drizelle said gently after a long moment of silence.

“She...she says and does things I don’t quite understand but she only does them when no one else is there to see it. That’s why I haven’t said anything before; I’m afraid no one would believe me.”

“Cinderella,” Drizelle said, “We have been friends since we were small. I know in my heart that you would never lie to me. What is going on?”

Cinderella shifted uncomfortably where she sat on the bed with her sisters. She was not sure where to start.

“She won’t say my name if there is no one there but us. And sometimes when she’s around others she goes out of her way to not need to say it.”

“What do you mean?” Anastasia asked.

“She treats me like Papa taught me to never treat a serving professional. She says “You there!” with harshness of voice, and won’t call me by name.”

“What?” Drizelle said.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me!” Cinderella put her face in her hands, trying not to cry.

“No, no, Cinderella, I do believe you,” Drizelle said. “I’m just shocked that she would treat someone that way. I have never seen it from her.”

“I have,” Anastasia said.

They both looked at her.

“I have seen her treat serving staff that way when she thinks no one is watching,” Anastasia continued

“How cruel!” Drizelle exclaimed. “And, why would she treat you that way? It’s bad enough to do it to the staff, but you aren’t even a servant. You’re her daughter.”

“There’s more,” Cinderella said. She looked down at her hands, feeling the colorful lacquer on her nails with the pads of her fingertips.

“What is it, Cinderella?” Anastasia asked.

“I don’t really know how to put it into words. The things she says, the way she looks at me...everything about the way she treats me when no one else is watching is miserable. I don’t fully know how to explain it.”

“Oh, Cinderella,” Drizelle said with compassion filling her voice and face.

“Do you want a hug?” Anastasia asked.

Cinderella nodded.

“From both of us?” Drizelle asked.

Cinderella nodded again. As they hugged her together, her tears threatened to flow again but this time it was from an overwhelming sense of relief.

“I’m so sorry this is happening,” Drizelle said. They could both feel Anastasia’s head nodding in agreement.

“Thank you,” Cinderella said, surprised by the emotion in her own voice. “Thank you both so much for listening to me and believing me. I just don’t know what to do.”

“That is a tough question,” Drizelle said.

“Why don’t you want to talk to Father about it?” Anastasia asked. “Don’t you think he would want to know?”

Cinderella considered the question for a moment.

“He married her,” Cinderella said. “I am afraid Papa will not believe me, and will pick her over me without giving me a chance to explain.”

“I don’t think he would do that,” Anastasia said, “but I made a promise to you that I would not tell, and as such I will not talk to him about this unless you ask me to.”

“Thank you, Sister,” Cinderella said.

“Of course,” Anastasia said.

“What if we can get him to witness it first hand?” Drizelle asked.

Both of the others withdrew from the hug to look at her face to see if she was serious. She appeared to be.

“If we can set it up so that she thinks she is alone with you, and have him walk in on you in the middle of one of these episodes, then he’ll have to believe us when we tell him what’s going on.”

“That seems complicated and contrived when we could just talk to him,” Anastasia said. “Besides, it would be a lot easier to arrange his entrance if he was in on the plan.”

The three women spent the rest of their evening quietly discussing various options for how to handle this situation. Anastasia remained in favor of direct communication but was convinced by Drizelle that it the original plan could be easily adjusted such that the person who entered was one of the sisters rather than their father. Drizelle and Cinderella both felt far more confident in speaking to their father about Lady Tremaine’s behavior if they could honestly say someone else had witnessed it. Anastasia ultimately agreed that it would help their case if their father was blinded by love. Having reached the consensus that the first step was to make sure that one of the other sisters witnessed Lady Tremaine’s abuse of Cinderella, they each went their separate ways to bed, intending to resume their planning the following evening.

The next day, a messenger arrived with an invitation for their family to go to the King’s Midwinter Ball. Cinderella went to this Ball with her family every year ever since her father first began courting the King and receiving such invitations. Anastasia and Drizelle were besides themselves with joy; this was the first time they had received an invitation. Their evening together overflowed with talk of the Midwinter Ball. As the evening came to a close, they decided once again to resume their planning the following evening.

Again, their plans were delayed, although this time for less happy reasons. Their father found his health suddenly failing. His quiet cough had become quite intense seemingly overnight. The other four of the family took turns sitting with him in pairs, caring for him with cool damp towels for his head and warm water bottles for his feet, regularly replenished for them by the house staff. This continued for several days with no improvement. A doctor was brought in.

The look on the doctor’s face when leaving their father’s room did not give anyone hope. Cinderella and Lady Tremaine entered his bedroom room as the doctor left. Drizelle and Anastasia rose to talk with the doctor in the drawing room.

“My Love, I wish to speak to Cinderella alone,” Cinderella’s father whispered. “I will send her to fetch you when we are done speaking.”

“Would you like an embrace before I go?” Lady Tremaine’s voice was steady.

“Of course, my Love.”

They embraced, with Lady Tremaine bending over his bed to gently place her face on his chest as he draped his arms around her. Then, she rose and left the room.

“My dear, darling daughter,” her father wheezed, “It seems I haven’t the time left to help you choose your path.”

“Oh, Papa,” Cinderella sighed, taking his cold hands in her own trembling pair. Silence fell between them.

“Tell me, Cinderella,” he whispered after a moment, “What has been bothering you?

“Papa?”

“I can always tell when something is on your mind. I am your father, after all. I typically choose to let you come to me. You always do in your own time; but now we haven’t the time to wait. I should like one last chance to help you, father to daughter, before I go.”

“Oh, Papa…” Cinderella was not sure what to do. How could she tell her dying father that the lover he had married and brought into their home was making her life miserable? Would he even believe such a fairy tale? She did not want him to die thinking her life without him would involve suffering. She also did not want him to die thinking her to be a liar. Tears threatened at the edges of her eyes.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, my dear,” her father said after a moment.

“Papa...I…” She hesitated. “I don’t wish you to think ill of me. I want the last thing you think about me before you...before you…” Cinderella stopped talking for a moment to gather herself.

“Nothing you can say,” he said, “could possibly make me think less of you.”

Cinderella considered his words. She had never lied to him before; he would have no reason to think she was lying now. However, there was also clearly not enough time for him to witness the resolution of the situation.

“Papa, it is rather complex. I don’t know that you would see any fruits of your efforts to help me before...before your time runs out.”

“My dear, that is fine. The part I play comes now; the rest is up to you.”

With those words, Cinderella’s heart opened to him as it had before the wedding. She confided in him about all the terrible things Lady Tremaine did and said when no one was looking or listenting. She went on to describe the plan she and her sisters had intended to contrive to ensure there would be a witness. As she talked, her father listened carefully. He believed her every word, asked clarifying questions, and let her talk. When she was done, he pondered for a moment. Cinderella waited patiently, knowing that even when he was healthy, her father took his time to reach solid conclusions before giving advice.

“Your sisters are truly your sisters,” he said finally. “I am very pleased you have them as your allies. Be sure to foster that love. Nothing is more important than true friendship, as you have with them.”

“Yes, Papa,” She said. “Yes, I am very lucky.”

A coughing fit overtook her father, and she reached for his medicine. He grabbed her hand instead.

“There is...no...time,” he said between coughs. “You three...must work together...to build...the lives you…” the coughing overtook him until his whole body shook. His eyes rolled back into his head.

Cinderella screamed for the doctor to return if still there.

The doctor rushed in, with Lady Tremaine following. There was nothing the doctor could do. It was the end. Cinderella’s father died with the three of them comforting him as best they could. Anastasia and Drizelle watched from the doorway, clutching to one another.

In the weeks following the funeral, the mood of the house was somber. The three sisters met each evening in Cinderella’s room as they had before. At first, their evenings were filled with tears and embraces, with shared stories of their father, and all thought of the Ball had left their minds. Eventually, they decided they must find a way to move forward.

“Grief is the most miserable of all emotions,” moaned Anastasia, laying dramatically back across Cinderella’s bed. “It is so awful to feel, and so thoroughly felt. I feel like a soggy sponge, filled with wet sadness leaking out of me when I cry.”

“That’s disgusting!” said Drizelle.

“What will we do?” Anastasia asked, sitting up.

“Grief is important but we can’t stay like this forever,” Cinderella said. “Anastasia’s right; this is miserable. Besides, he told me…” her voice trailed off. She had not yet managed to bring herself to talk to her sisters about his final moments before they watched him die in her arms.

“What did he say to you?” Drizelle asked gently. “It’s okay. You can tell us if you wish, and you know we will keep a secret if you ask. If you need more time - or if you never choose to tell us - that is fine too. He was a father to all of us, but your relationship with him was different than ours.”

Anastasia nodded.

“It’s not much of a secret, really,” Cinderella finally said. “He didn’t get to finish what he was trying to say. He did say that I am very lucky to have the two of you, and I agree!”

“It’s true,” Anastasia said, “We are quite wonderful.”

Drizelle laughed.

“He also said that we should all work together. I think he was going to say that we need to figure out for ourselves what we will do with our lives but that we should help each other do it in his absence.”

“He said that about us?” Drizelle asked. “What about Lady Tremaine?”

“Well, I...I told him the truth about her,” Cinderella said.

“How did he take that?” Drizelle asked.

“He believed me completely, and then started giving me the advice I mentioned.”

“See? I knew he would,” Anastasia said.

“You were right,” Cinderella said, “I should have had more faith in him. I am glad that I found it in my heart again before it was too late.”

“What do you mean, ‘again?’” Drizelle asked.

“Before Lady Tremaine came here, I would have talked to him about something like this no matter who it was doing it,” Cinderella answered, “but something about this whole situation robbed me of my confidence.”

“We must do something about Mother,” Anastasia proclaimed.

“Like what?” Drizelle asked.

“Well she simply cannot go on treating Cinderella this way. Especially now.”

“I don’t see that we can do much about it,” Cinderella said.

“Oh come now, let’s think. We can talk to her about it together if nothing else,” Anastasia reassured. Drizelle frowned.

“I suppose,” Cinderella said.

They talked for a while about how to go about talking to Lady Tremaine. Drizelle, of course, preferred something more elaborate.

A knock came at the door.

“Yes?” Cinderella called.

“It’s time for bed, lights out,” Lady Tremaine urged through the door.

“Yes, Mother!” the three said in unison.

Anastasia and Drizelle left the room. Cinderella reached to switch off the gas sconce near her bed and noticed Lady Tremaine standing in the still-open doorway. She stared at her stepdaughter for a long moment, a cold look in her eyes. Cinderella braced herself.

“Yes, Mother?”

“I am not your mother. Do not call me that again.”

Cinderella was astonished into silence. She watched as Lady Tremaine placed one hand on the handle of each of the doors and slowly pulled them shut, all without breaking her cold, threatening stare.


	3. The Ball

Lady Tremaine’s treatment of Cinderella deteriorated rapidly over the following weeks. Despite that, the three sisters began forming plans for their lives. With their father gone, Lady Tremaine’s career did not pay enough to sustain their family lifestyle long term, so money was a key focus for each of them.

Anastasia wished to work as a mason or blacksmith and, with Lady Tremaine’s help, began to seek to secure an apprenticeship. As both options were equally desirable to her, she decided to seek both types of work and take whichever opportunity arose first.

Drizelle was less certain and took a Palace courier job to help support the family’s income while she kept thinking about her future. Anastasia and Cinderella both thought she ought to go study at the University. In truth, this very much appealed to Drizelle but she knew her family needed the income from her job. Most of the decision-making she did in her head on her long courier runs involved thinking about various areas of study available and attempting to balance what she would enjoy studying with what would lead to a life she would enjoy after graduating.

Cinderella wished to become a seamstress to sew beautiful clothing. Her sisters supported her in this. However, Lady Tremaine was of the very vocal opinion that Cinderella would never be good for anything but cleaning floors and scrubbing dishes. She periodically went on to assert that without Cinderella doing those things, the family would collapse into debt, so it didn’t matter anyway what else Cinderella might be good at doing. Without the finances of their father’s income, Lady Tremaine had let all of the cleaning staff go. Cinderella was doing their work in their absence. She worried about the ex-staff members’ families until she got word one by one that each of them secured other positions. She finished each day so exhausted from her new workload that there was hardly any room left for her to think about her future.

Cinderella’s sisters began bringing her sewing supplies during their nightly ritual. Sometimes she would sew while they talked; sometimes she would send them away without any talking at all out of exhaustion. They worried about her, but they revelled in the beautiful things she made, like the blue satchel that matched the blue slippers Cinderella’s mother had made for her by hand just before she passed away. Cinderella was working on learning to make lace in order to cover it in lace that would match the lace her mother had made for her blue slippers.

“Cinderella,” Drizelle said one evening, “The King’s Midwinter Ball is only a month away. Are you ready?”

“I just have some finishing touches to put on that dress that I altered from my mother’s closet,” Cinderella said, “but they should not take me too long to do. Other than that, yes, I am! What about you two?”

“The corrections you made to the fit of my dress make it perfect,” Anastasia said. “I am definitely ready.”

“I still can’t decide between my purple ball gown and my green ball suit,” Drizelle said.

“You look stunning in both,” Anastasia said, “so you really can’t go wrong no matter what you choose.”

“It’s true,” Cinderella said.

“That doesn’t help me decide!” Drizelle sighed.

Anastasia and Cinderella laughed.

Lady Tremaine became openly derisive of Cinderella in front of everyone in the family and the remaining house staff. At first, Anastasia and Drizelle were so shocked by it that they didn’t say anything to their mother. They had always believed Cinderella but seeing it first hand was unnerving to them. Things came to a head at dinner the evening before the Ball when Lady Tremaine told Cinderella to take her dinner and eat it in the kitchen with the “other servants,” all without ever using her name. In fact, no one had heard her say Cinderella’s name since their father died.

“Mother!” Anastasia exclaimed. “Cinderella is family! She is not a servant!”

“That ratty little orphan does the work of a servant, and will eat with the servants. No orphan rats are part of my family.”

“Mother, you took vows. We all did. She is our sister!” Anastasia insisted.

Cinderella sat stiff as a board, her fingers curled around the edges of her plate.

“Mother, how can you call her an orphan when she is your daughter?” Drizelle said with icy calmness.

“Daughter? Daughter?! No. That is not my daughter. That is no one’s daughter, as that is not even a woman.”

Thick silence hung in the air. No one knew what to say, not even Anastasia.

“Fine. It’s high time we fixed this,” Lady Tremaine said, rising from the table.

“M. Fields, come please,” she said and left the room.

“Where are you going, Mother?” Drizelle asked, rising to follow, “What are you doing?”

The three sisters rushed to follow M. Fields and Lady Tremaine. She lead them through the house to the wing where the young women’s bedrooms were side by side. Lady Tremaine went directly into Cinderella’s room.

“M. Fields, help me remove all of the women’s clothing this boy has been wearing. We’ll replace it with items from his father’s closet.”

“I won’t do it Ma’am.”

“What?” Lady Tremaine turned to face the Housekeeper. M. Fields was known for their quiet nature, rarely speaking except as necessary. It was considered the mark of a good Housekeeper to anticipate needs and meet them with minimal requirement of verbal exchange. This was the first time Cinderella had ever seen them reject a request for aid from an employer while on duty.

“I said, I won’t do it, Ma’am.”

“What do you mean, you won’t do it?”

“I will not help you force your ridiculous notions of gender onto another person.”

The second thick silence since the beginning of dinner filled the space between them all.

“I’ll have your resignation for this,” Lady Tremaine finally said.

“Just as soon as you find a way to do that legally, you’ll have it,” M. Fields responded levelly. “You can’t fire me just because of my gender. Apart from that, it is explicitly illegal for house staff like me to obey an order that breaks the law, and equally illegal for you to fire me for not complying with such an order. This,” she said gesturing at Lady Tremaine and Cinderella’s bedroom, “is harassment and abuse if ever I’ve seen such a thing. Your treatment of Cinderella has been horrendous these past few months and it must stop.”

“Cinderella?!” Lady Tremaine exclaimed. Cinderella jumped at the sound of her name finally uttered from those lips, yet uttered with exaggeration and hatred. “Cinder_ella _ ?! More like Cinder_allen _! If you won’t help, I will do it myself, starting with this.”

With that, Lady Tremaine turned to Cinderella’s ball gown where it hung on her mannequin and picked up Cinderella’s scissors. While her sisters rushed to stop their mother, Cinderella watched in frozen agony as her mother’s dress was torn to shreds by Lady Tremaine’s hatred wielded by her own scissors. She fell to her knees without noticing what she was doing.

A boy? “Cinderallen?” Her father kept good company. While she was aware that there were people who would insist that she was a man, her father certainly never brought such people home. Such people also stayed far from the Palace and anywhere else even remotely respectable. The concept that her step mother could be one such person had never crossed her mind until now. Suddenly the months of growing disdain and abuse took on a new and vile context. Tears began to flow. She shook with them. Two shoes appeared next to her. She looked up. M. Fields was there, offering support. She knew that they were speaking because she could see M. Fields’ lips moving through her tears, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying through the rush in her ears.

M. Fields got Cinderella up and into Anastasia’s room. Anastasia followed, and M. Fields left. They and Drizelle returned with the three sisters’ dinners. That night, the three sisters held both their dinner and their evening gathering in Anastasia’s room. Drizelle and Anastasia refused to eat with their mother in protest of her cruelty. They brought Cinderella with them where she would have their loving company without the view of her mother’s destroyed dress.

Halfway through the evening, M. Fields knocked on their door with the polite knock of a Housekeeper.

“Yes?” Called Anastasia.

“The room is clean now, ladies, you can go back to your usual place.”

“Thank you, M. Fields!” Drizelle said.

“Of course,” came the reply through the door

“Oh no, she hasn’t been doing my work, has she?” Cinderella said, suddenly worried.

“Cinderella, she was doing her job,” Anastasia said. “Let’s go back to your room.”

They went to Cinderella’s room, and M. Fields entered Anastasia’s after they left to collect their dinner things. The other two put Cinderella to bed, tucking her in, taking care to make her feel as loved as they knew how. They ached to see her turmoil and pain, and retired to Anastasia’s room to make a plan together.

The next day, Cinderella got up, and began her chores. It was the day of the Ball, and she resigned herself to staying home. Her dress was in shreds. All of her ball dresses were also in shreds thanks to Lady Tremaine. There was no time left to make something else, and buying something that day would have been impossible even if she had the money to do it.

By lunch time she was beginning to feel better. After all, she had been to this Ball before, and many others as well. She was certain she would be invited to future Balls and by then...by then what? Suddenly she became determined. She would not be living with the abuse of Lady Tremaine by the next Ball. She wasn’t sure how yet, but between her mind and her sisters’, she knew she would find a way even if it meant moving somewhere else and abandoning the home her family had kept for six generations.

As the afternoon pressed on, Anastasia found Cinderella scrubbing a floor.

“Come, Cinderella, I have a surprise for you.”

“I still have more work to do today,” Cinderella said. “Besides, shouldn’t you be getting ready for the Ball?”

“Yes, and so should you.”

“I can’t. I don’t have anything to wear. You know that.”

Anastasia just grinned and gestured for Cinderella to follow her.

Cinderella hesitated for a moment but dropped the brush into the bucket and followed her sister, wiping her palms dry on her apron. Anastasia lead her out the back door and through the garden, on a winding path that lead to the back door to the barn.

“Why did we go the long way?” Cinderella asked.

“Because the rose bushes hid us from view of the house this way,” Anastasia replied, “and thus Mother could not see what we’ve done.”

“What did you do?”

Anastasia grinned and pulled the back door to the barn open. There between the rows of stalls was Drizelle, sewing on the last touch of a dress on a sewing mannequin. It was one of Cinderella’s mother’s dresses.

“You…” Cinderella gaped.

“Quick, try it on!” Anastasia said.

“We don’t have much time left if it doesn’t fit,” Drizelle said.

Cinderella changed hurriedly. The dress fit well. Her mother had been as tall as she was now, although not quite as slender. Her sisters’ adjustments were done correctly and with elegance.

“You are gorgeous and this dress is beautiful and you in this dress is simply divine!” Anastasia exclaimed, holding up a mirror. Cinderella was pleased with what she saw.

“Now for your hair,” Drizelle said.

Anastasia and Drizelle worked together to get Cinderella ready for the Midwinter Ball. They had already brought everything they needed into the barn.

“You’ve thought of everything,” Cinderella said. Her sisters beamed. “Except maybe one thing.”

“What’s that?” Anastasia asked.

“How do I get from here to the Ball without her seeing me?”

“We were thinking about that,” Drizelle started to say.

“And we don’t think you need to hide it,” Anastasia finished, “because one way or another she will find out you are there, either by running into you herself or hearing about it later. You might as well go in style, with us, in the open carriage like you would if nothing was wrong. She is already planning to ride with the Ladies Punderson, so you won’t have to worry about her in the carriage.”

“The two of you combined would make a fantastic fairy godmother,” Cinderella remarked. Drizelle laughed.

“If only such beings existed in real life, this would have been a lot easier,” Anastasia said.

“We are going to go get ready now,” Drizelle said, “and we will tell Mother that you’ve gone to chop firewood to cover for you if she asks. Stay here until we come get you for the carriage.”

The plan worked well. Cinderella’s sisters joined her in the barn, then the three of them went to the carriage together. Lady Tremaine saw them and approached with a sneer.

“You look ridiculous in that dress,” she said.

“Mother, you can’t talk to us tonight if you are going to treat her that way,” Drizelle said.

“Excuse me?”

“You either treat our sister with respect, or we’ll have nothing to do with you tonight,” Anastasia said bluntly. “We aren’t going to let you ruin our night. We can discuss this further tomorrow.”

“Ruin your night? Me? You would really rather side with an orphan rat than your own mother?!”

“Driver, let’s go, please,” Drizelle said politely.

“Wait!” their mother exclaimed.

The driver did not wait. The house staff was as unwilling to support the poor behavior of Lady Tremaine as were her daughters. As they drove, the four of them laughed together about the look on Lady Tremaine’s face as they rode away. Their conversation turned to concern, and the driver fell silent. What would they do about Lady Tremaine’s cruelty towards Cinderella? Clearly they could not go on like this as a family.

Upon arriving at the Ball, the sisters entered the Palace and promised each other to enjoy the evening and worry about their mother another day. After all, there were tables of food, talented musicians, beautiful decorations, and wonderful people upon which to spend their attention.

Anastasia looked at the Prince and sighed.

“He is quite handsome,” she said.

“He is kind, too, Sister. Would you like me to introduce you?” asked Cinderella.

“Oh that’s right, he was practically your brother before Father passed, wasn’t he?” Drizelle remarked.

“Oh no, not like how you and Anastasia have been like my sisters since before we became legal sisters. Certainly he is the son of someone my father was lovers with, but the Prince and I have spent far less time together than I did with you two before you moved in to our home. Come. Allow me to introduce you.”

The three sisters moved around the edge of the dance floor to the Prince, who was speaking with a dignitary, and waited at a polite distance for his attention. He hurried his conversation after noticing them.

“Cinderella!” the Prince Thomas XIV exclaimed, walking towards them. “And Anastasia and Drizelle, I see. I am happy to see you all together, especially after losing your father so soon after becoming a family.”

“Thank you, Prince Thomas,” Cinderella said.

“Please, Cinderella, call me Thomas.”

“Then thank you, Thomas,” Cinderella said with a warm smile.

“We lost a great man, your father. Having lost one of my fathers while the other remains, I can only imagine that the solace you must feel in Lady Tremaine mirrors that of what I find in my own remaining parent.”

Anastasia and Drizelle looked at Cinderella. Cinderella looked down briefly,then back at the Prince. Her smile was gone but she didn’t notice. The Prince did.

“Thank you for your condolences,” she said evenly. The Prince could tell something was wrong but chose not to press the issue for now.

A new song began.

“Would you care to dance?” Anastasia asked the Prince.

“Yes, of course!” the Prince answered. “I hope each of you will also save a dance for me.”

Anastasia and the Prince moved to join the dance floor. Drizelle took Cinderella by the hand in a show of support. Cinderella gripped her fingers gratefully. To one side, Cinderella noticed more people entering the Ball.

“The Ladies Punderson are here,” Cinderella said.

Drizelle turned to look. Lady Tremaine was with them, entering last.

“Let us avoid all of them tonight,” Drizelle proposed.

“Yes, let’s.”

They moved to sample the food, and began chatting with Franklin Gifford, Esquire to the Prince, who was standing near by. As they talked, Cinderella felt herself warming to him once more. In their brief interactions over the years she had always enjoyed his company.

The song changed again.

“Franklin, would you like to dance with me?” Cinderella asked.

“Yes, I would,” he said, and followed her to the dance floor.

Anastasia rejoined Drizelle with a flushed face that told her sister everything she needed to know about how she felt about the Prince.

“Be careful of falling in love with him,” Drizelle said, “They say he’s not interested in romance.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that too. Even if it’s true, it is fun to feel these feelings.”

Drizelle smiled.

Cinderella and Franklin finished their dance with their own smiles and moved to the side of the dance floor where they could converse without blocking the dance floor. Partway through their conversation, Lady Tremaine approached.

“Oh don’t you look lovely tonight, my dear?” she said to Cinderella with what eerily sounded like true sincerity. Cinderella said nothing, and looked down at her feet. Suddenly she found herself missing the blue slippers her mother had made for her. They were not formal enough for a Ball but she did love them and they always offered her support in moments like these.

“It’s true, she really does,” Franklin said, beaming at Cinderella.

Lady Tremaine’s eyes flashed cold for a moment while Franklin’s focus was on Cinderella.

“Won’t you introduce us, Cinderella?” Lady Tremaine said with a very parental tone.

“Oh, yes Mo-Ma’am. Yes. Forgive me. This is Franklin Gifford, Esquire to the Prince. Franklin, this is Lady Tremaine, my late father’s wife.” The wording was tricky but she knew that no matter how nice Lady Tremaine was being right now, she would surely punish Cinderella later for calling her “Mother” if she slipped. She hoped she hadn’t noticed the momentary error.

“Ah yes, you were present for our wedding,” Lady Tremaine said. Franklin nodded.

“Condolences for your loss, Lady Tremaine. I am pleased that your family has each other through this difficult time.”

As the other two continued to exchange expected pleasantries, Cinderella felt as though she was turning inside out. The conversation filled her mind but so did a growing rushing noise from somewhere in her ears or head that threatened to overwhelm her. She didn’t notice that she had lost track of what was going on around her until she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Prince Thomas XIV standing before her with a kind smile.

“Would you please dance with me?” Prince Thomas asked her.

Vaguely aware that the music was between songs, she accepted. They joined hands and moved towards the dance floor.

“Are you well, Cinderella?” the concerned Prince asked after they were out of earshot.

“I…” she let her voice trail off. She was not interested in lying to anyone, least of all a member of the Royal Family. Something she could not identify pressed her to keep her family drama to herself.

“I’m not,” she finally said simply.

“You seemed a bit off when I mentioned Lady Tremaine earlier, and quite unlike yourself standing there talking to her,” the Prince gently pushed.

Cinderella sighed.

“Our family is not what it should be,” she replied, “but for one night, I really do just want to enjoy this Ball.”

“Then let us enjoy this Ball,” the Prince said, “and if you’ll have me, I will come to call tomorrow. We can take a walk or my carriage to have the privacy to talk about this. Our fathers never married for their own reasons, but to me, you are something like family. I want to support you, and I want to know what’s going on.”

Cinderella was overwhelmed by his words and grateful for the embrace-like form the dance began with. She thought about his offer as they danced. Just like her sisters, late parents, and household staff, the Prince was good at patiently giving her the time she needed to think before responding. She appreciated this about him. “To me, you are something like family,” his words echoed in her head. Even if they did not discuss Lady Tremaine, she wanted to know what he meant by that. She made up her mind; she would accept his offer tonight, and decide with her sisters whether to discuss the problems with Lady Tremaine with Prince Thomas XIV before he came to call.

“I would enjoy a talk with you very much,” Cinderella said when the dance form changed again to allow them to hear one another.

“Excellent,” replied the Prince.

From across the room, Anastasia and Drizelle watched them dance.

“What do you suppose they are talking about?” Anastasia asked.

“I don’t know, but I think he rescued her from Mother on purpose.”

“Really? How can you be sure?”

“I’m not sure,” Drizelle acknowledged, “But I did see him watching their conversation before interrupting to ask her to dance. Remember when we saw her disappear into herself? That was when he started walking towards her.”

Anastasia sighed in a very specific way that her sister recognized right away.

“That just makes you love him more, I see. Your heart has good taste in romance,” Drizelle said, “if futile.”

“What about you, Drizelle? Is there anyone here tonight who you are interested in?”

“Not in that way. Although,” Drizelle responded, “everyone here is interesting in some way or another. I feel I could spend an eternity getting to know everyone and still not run out of surprises.”

Drizelle spent the evening meeting new people and reveling in their personalities. Anastasia danced with as many people as she could and took a particular fondness to a new kind of cheese presented that evening. She tried to connect with Prince Thomas again but he was rather busy due to the combination of Princely duties and his focus on Cinderella’s wellbeing. The Prince danced with Cinderella periodically and continued to introduce her to new people at the end of each dance he had with her, intentionally keeping her busy and away from Lady Tremaine. No one had ever seen him dance with the same person more than once in the same Ball. Rumors spread that perhaps there was an exception to his lack of interest in romantic pursuits. By the end of the night, many believed the Prince and Cinderella to be lovers. Drizelle didn’t believe the rumors because she knew first hand what it was like to have no interest in romantic pursuits and saw the Prince’s interest in Cinderella for what it really was. Anastasia hoped the rumors were true but feared her sister was right.

The last song was announced. Cinderella looked around for Franklin Gifford, and found him looking for her. They happily took hands for the dance. Anastasia and Drizelle danced together with one another. The moment the dance ended, they went to Cinderella to ask her to rush with them to ensure the driver would take them home. They did not want Lady Tremaine to take the carriage home without them out of spite.

Cinderella, of course, would have much preferred a lengthy good-bye with the Esquire.

“We must go now,” Cinderella said to Franklin. “Please, if you can, come with Prince Thomas when he comes to call tomorrow.”

“I will see what I can do,” he said with a smile.

The sisters went to the door, and noted the Ladies Punderson still talking with their mother.

“Good, if we leave now, she can’t possibly prevent us from getting home at a reasonable hour,” Drizelle said.

“But how will she get home?” Cinderella asked.

“The same way she got here,” Anastasia said.

“Yes, don’t you remember? She always intended to ride both ways with the Ladies Punderson tonight.”

They took the carriage home. On the way, Cinderella’s sisters asked her about the Prince.

“What was that you were saying as you were taking your leave from the Prince’s Esquire?” Drizelle asked. “Is the Prince really coming tomorrow?”

“He is, yes.” Cinderella said.

“So the rumors are true, then!” Anastasia exclaimed, beside herself with joy. Drizelle shook her head.

“Rumors? What rumors?” Cinderella asked.

“All the Ball was talking about you two,” Anastasia said. “And how the Prince never dances with the same person more than once in a night. Are you lovers now? Will you be soon?”

“Lovers?” Cinderella asked. The concept had never entered her mind.

Her sisters waited for her to finish her response.

“I...I suppose it’s true that this was unusual for him. And I do think it was an act of affection, but not in a romantic way. Anastasia, Drizelle, he could tell something was wrong. I think he was keeping me from her on purpose. He intends to come to call tomorrow to take me for a walk or on a carriage ride so that he can find out what’s wrong with our family. He also called me “something like family” and I don’t know what he means by that. I intend to ask him about that. I wanted to check with both of you before talking to him about her, though.”

“Endlessly sensitive,” Anastasia sighed.

“What?” Cinderella asked.

“Oh she’s foolishly fallen in love with the Prince is all,” Drizelle explained. “Anything good he does will be met with this reaction from her until it wears off.”

“Oh dear,” Cinderella said. “Anastasia, my understanding is that Prince Thomas really isn’t very interested in romance in general.”

“Yes, yes, all the Kingdom knows that,” Anastasia waved her hand dramatically as she spoke. “I won’t force my attention on him. But I won’t deny my own emotions to myself, either.”

“Good,” Drizelle said. Cinderella nodded.


	4. The Prince Visits Cinderella

The next day, Cinderella rose well before the midwinter sun to begin her chores. She moved quietly but quickly through the cold air, hoping both to avoid Lady Tremaine and to mute some of her step mother’s inevitable wrath with efficient work. She succeeded in the first goal until breakfast, when Lady Tremaine did not appear to eat with the family.

“Where could she be?” Anastasia asked.

“M. Fields, do you know?” Drizelle asked.

“She sent word late last night that she would be staying with the Ladies Punderson.”

“Thank you, M. Fields,” Drizelle said.

Anastasia laughed while Drizelle nodded. Cinderella sighed with relief.

“Oh, M. Fields,” Cinderella said, “Prince Thomas will likely be by at some point today. I do not believe he will be staying for a meal but I thought I ought to let you know.”

The Housekeeper’s eyes went wide, and they scurried out of the room, presumably to make necessary preparations.

Over breakfast they decided together that it would be best for Cinderella to start by asking what the Prince intends to do after finding out what has been troubling the family. If she liked what he said, then she would go on to explain the situation. They trusted her to do so with honesty and clarity. They went about their day after breakfast. Cinderella was constantly nervous that Lady Tremaine would suddenly reappear.

Cinderella heard a carriage approach after lunch and peered down from a window. It was Lady Tremaine, riding in the Punderson carriage. Cinderella felt her heart beat faster with fear. Lady Tremaine stepped out of the carriage. Cinderella withdrew from the window before she could be seen. In moments, she could hear the carriage horses leaving. Cinderella did her best to hide from Lady Tremaine, carefully working in different parts of the house from where she saw or heard her step mother walking and talking.

“What are you doing, Mother?!” Anastasia’s voice rang through the walls to Cinderella’s ears. She heard Lady Tremaine’s muffled response. Alarmed, she noted that they sounded like they were near the bedrooms.

Drizelle came running around the corner, panting.

“Cinderella, come quick! She’s lost it! She’s going to destroy everything if we don’t stop her!”

Cinderella ran behind Drizelle to her own bedroom. Both doors were thrown open, and so were the shutters and window panes. The room began to chill as cold winter air drifted through the open window. Lady Tremaine and Anastasia stood between the bed and the window. Cinderella’s open armoire was behind Lady Tremaine. The two women were grappling over one of Cinderella’s dresses.

“Let go,” Lady Tremaine ordered.

“No! This isn’t yours!”

“It isn’t yours, either.”

“That’s right,” Drizelle said, “It’s Cinderella's!”

“After what he pulled last night, Cinder_allen _ does not get to wear women’s clothing. Not under my roof. Not any more. This will all go.”

With that, she yanked the dress out of Anastasia’s hands and sent it out the window before turning to the armoire.

“Mother, stop!” Anastasia exclaimed.

Lady Tremaine turned back to her daughter, who flinched at the sinister look on her mother’s face.

“You’re right,” Lady Tremaine said, “This is not the place to start. Come here, Cinderallen.”

Silence filled the room. Anastasia and Drizelle glared at their mother.

“What did I do wrong?” Cinderella asked, taking a few hesitating steps into the room. “You...you were so nice, so kind, and then something changed. But you are only cruel to me. What did I do wrong?”

“What did you do wrong?” Lady Tremaine pushed past Anastasia and walked around the bed towards Cinderella.

“What did you do wrong?!” she repeated emphatically. “Look at you! Everything about you is wrong! Take these skirts off immediately. You can find suitable clothing in your father’s closet.”

With that she grabbed at Cinderella, pulling at the neck of her dress, attempting to pull it off. Cinderella tried to fight back but was so disconcerted by the entire situation combined with a genuine desire to refrain from hurting Lady Tremaine that there was little she could do. They fell to the floor as they struggled.

Drizelle and Anastasia jumped to their sister’s rescue. Anastasia grabbed Lady Tremaine by the feet and pulled. Drizelle grabbed her by the waist and pushed. They succeeded in pulling her off of Cinderella. As they did, Lady Tremaine’s hands flailed at her step daughter. She pulled off Cinderella’s beloved blue slippers as she was pulled off of Cinderella. Pushing her daughters off of her, Lady Tremaine rose just high enough to fling the slippers out of the window before Anastasia and Drizelle pinned her to the ground again.

“Ow!” came a voice from below. Cinderella recognized it. Her face heated as her heart flushed.

“I say, was that a shoe that just hit your head?” everyone recognized the voice of Prince Thomas XIV.

Lady Tremaine tried to bolt towards the door, but Anastasia and Drizelle held her down, thinking she was going to attack their sister again.

“Cinderella, put on some shoes and go greet them,” Drizelle said.

“We will keep her here,” Anastasia vowed. Cinderella was taken aback by the ferocity in her youngest sister’s voice.

“Oh, okay,” Cinderella said, moving towards the shoe vault by her door. “Just, promise me you won’t hurt her.”

“We promise,” Anastasia said. Drizelle nodded.

“We just want to keep her from interfering,” Drizelle assured. “She doesn’t deserve an audience with the Prince after pulling something like this anyway.”

Cinderella hurried down the stairs. She heard M. Fields talking with their guests as she approached.

“Thank you kindly for bringing this in, Your Majesty,” they said to Prince Thomas XIV as she entered. M. Fields was holding Cinderella’s dress.

“Oh! Cinderella,” said Franklin Gifford, Esquire to the Prince. “Are you quite all right? Isn’t this yours? It looks just like the slippers you told me your late mother made for you. I found it with my head as it flew through the air.”

“Yes, thank you, Franklin,” Cinderella said, moving forward with a face heated by embarrassment, gratitude, and affection.

She took the slipper from him.

“Would you happen to have found the other?”

“Not yet, although M. Fields has sent the cook to search the bushes where Prince Thomas XIV saw it land.”

“Please, Franklin, call me Thomas in this house.”

“Yes, Thomas.”

“Thank you,” replied the Prince. “Now, Cinderella, what has been going on around here? Who was chucking your belongings out an open window in the middle of winter?”

Cinderella paused. Her heart clenched with fear. She wasn’t sure why. M. Fields moved to her side in a silent show of support. It eased the edge of her tensions enough to remember that her sisters were keeping Lady Tremaine at bay. She was safe, for the moment. With that realization she regained her ability to speak.

“Let’s go on that ride you suggested yesterday please, Thomas,” she said. “I can’t bear to talk of it here.”

The Prince agreed.

“M. Fields, would you please wait until you hear the sound of the horses leaving, then alert my sisters that I have left with the Prince?”

“Yes Ma’am, I will be happy to.”

“Thank you, M. Fields. For everything.”

The Housekeeper smiled.

“To the carriage then?” Prince Thomas XIV spoke.

“To the carriage,” Cinderella nodded.

“Would you like me to attend or stay behind for your ride?” Franklin Gifford asked.

Cinderella looked expectantly at Prince Thomas. The Prince looked at her.

“It’s up to you,” he said.

“Oh. I…” Faced with a sudden unexpected decision, Cinderella again paused to consider her response and again felt gratitude that the people in her life were so patient with her.

Cinderella looked at Franklin. He offered her his hand. She took it. She felt the tension drain from her at his touch.

“Please come along,” she said. He nodded.

The three of them left. Cinderella glanced back at M. Fields as she pulled one of her winter wraps from the rack by the door on the way out.

“Thank you,” she said.

M. Fields nodded, and turned towards the inner door.

The cook greeted them.

“I found your other shoe, Ma’am,” the cook said.

“Thank you, Ms. Patterson,” Cinderella replied, taking the blue slipper.

The cook returned to finish dinner preparations. Prince Thomas XIV, Cinderella, and Franklin Gifford climbed into the waiting carriage. The driver pulled away from her home, and Cinderella breathed a sigh of relief. She bent to remove her less-favorite brown shoes and placed the blue slippers her mother had made for her back on her feet.

“That is where you belong,” Cinderella said quietly to herself.

“What happened?” Prince Thomas asked.

“If I tell you,” Cinderella began, glad to have a prepared script, “what will you do with that information? Why are you curious about my family’s drama?”

Franklin Gifford kaughed.

“Why do you laugh?” Cinderella asked

“All the Kingdom believes Prince Thomas to be in love with you after last night. All the Kingdom,” Franklin said, “except you.”

Cinderella gaped.

“Oh come now Franklin you make it sound as though I wish to be her lover.”

“Well don’t you?”

“In a fashion I suppose but not in that way.”

“What…” Cinderella was uncertain which question to ask. The others waited for her to finish her sentence.

“Please explain, Thomas,” Cinderella said, giving up on forming a question.

The Prince drew a deep breath of sunny midwinter air.

“Cinderella,” the Prince said, “I have a deep appreciation and respect for you and your family. I do not wish for my connection with all of you to end due simply to your father’s passing, especially when it comes to you. I do love you. I was not sure before last night but after dancing with you and listening to you and seeing you suffer distress, it is clear to me. I would like to build a connection with you. To be clear: I speak of the unflavored love any person can feel for another. I am not seeking to court you or become your brother. I am interested in genuine connection in whatever way is good for both of us.”

Cinderella sat in stunned silence. This was the first time anyone had suddenly professed love to her.

“That was not something I intended to say to you until after we had a chance to talk about your family,” Prince Thomas XIV continued after a moment, “but it is the truest answer I can think of to your question. I am curious about your family because you, Cinderella, you are clearly hurting, and I want to support you.”

Cinderella began to cry. Quiet tears appeared on her face. Franklin twisted and opened his arms wide to offer the support of an embrace. Cinderella leaned against him in acceptance of his offer and cried quietly as he held her.

“Cinderella, I...I’m sorry...I…” Prince Thomas was confused by her reaction.

“No,” Cinderella assured him, “No apologies necessary.”

Cinderella gathered herself, took a deep breath, and sat up. Franklin let her go and put his arms back where they had been.

“Thank you,” she said to Franklin. He smiled warmly at her.

“Thomas,” she said, turning back to the Prince, “I don’t think I can convey to you the relief I feel hearing this.”

Cinderella went on to explain that her stepmother had been treating her so very poorly. She described how it started off small and out of sight of others, and how it culminated in her ripped ball gown, and of her sisters working together to make her something appropriate to wear. She described her step mother’s insistence that Cinderella is a man and her refusal to use Cinderella’s name. She concluded with filling in Prince Thomas and his Esquire as to the afternoon fight which resulted in a slipper striking Franklin’s head.

“How could she possibly think you are a man?” Prince Thomas XIV wondered aloud.

“Well, there are some people here who buy in to foreign ideas about gender,” Cinderella said. “The best I can think of is that she is one of them.”

“What sort of foreign ideas?” Franklin Gifford asked.

“Those to the north seem to think that a person’s body determines gender,” Cinderella said.

“That’s absurd,” the Prince said, “Everyone knows that gender is who one is, which is not something that has anything to do with one’s body.”

“To what aspect of bodies do those to the north ascribe gender?” Franklin asked.

“I don’t know,” Cinderella said, “I just know that Papa taught me when I was very young that there are people who exist who will think I am a man because of my body. He frequently told me I must always be equally aware of both other cultures and myself in order to live peacefully with them while staying true to myself. It was during one such conversation that he taught me this.”

“Maybe it’s eye color,” the Prince pondered.

“Maybe it’s height?” Franklin wondered.

“In any event,” said Prince Thomas XIV, “What Lady Tremaine is doing cannot be brushed aside as mere cultural differences. It is cruel, and it goes against the oath she took to “provide for our family to the best of my ability,” and to “seek help” when she needs it. This is clearly not the best she could be doing, so she clearly needs help to achieve that.”

The Prince asked the driver to loop back towards the house.

“If you aren’t ready yet to go back when we get there,” Prince Thomas said to Cinderella, “we will continue past the house and loop around again.”

Cinderella nodded.

“She needs help to fix this, but you aren’t the right person for her to go to for help,” Prince Thomas said.

“But isn’t that the point of forming a family?” Cinderella asked. “When we run into troubles, we work together to fix them. That way none of us are trying to make life work alone.”

“Working together to get through life is often part of a family,” the Prince acknowledged, “but that is more represented by Drizelle choosing to take a courier job to support your family’s lifestyle instead of attending the University right away. Your sisters have also worked with you to help shield you from your mother, but that is a short term measure which will not solve this. A situation like this requires outside help.”

“Outside help?” Cinderella asked.

“This problem is outside the skillset of your family,” Franklin said, “so it does not make sense to seek help within. You know this because you have tried.”

Cinderella took a deep breath. They were right.

“Thank you both,” she said.

The Prince and his Esquire spent the rest of the carriage ride to Cinderella’s house making sure she knew about all of the public resources available to people in her circumstances.

Two horses approached them from opposite direction at a canter. Drizelle rode one, Anastasia the other. They slowed as they approached.

“Cinderella! Did you tell Prince Thomas?” Anastasia asked.

“I did, yes. He wants to help, and has…”

“Great, we need that help right now! Not a moment to waste!” Anastasia interrupted.

“Please, Your Majesty, she’s destroying everything,” Drizelle said. We can’t stop her as we have neither weapons nor the desire to use them. We need your help. Surely she will listen to you.”

“Mind if I share your horse?” Prince Thomas XIV asked. Anastasia grinned.

“I don’t mind at all,” she said.

“Front or back?”

“I’ll take the front, please, Your Majesty,” she said, “As I know the road best.”

Prince Thomas immediately swung up behind Anastasia from the carriage. The moment he was in place, she took off at a full gallop.

“Front or back?” Franklin asked Drizelle.

“Same answer, same reason,” she said.

Franklin got up behind her, and she took the horse back to the house at a full gallop after Anastasia.

Cinderella turned to the driver.

“I suppose we ought to follow them,” she said. The driver nodded.

* * *

As the galloping horses approached the house, the remaining house staff stood just outside the gate.

“Is anyone else hurt?” Drizelle asked while Prince Thomas XIV and Franklin Gifford dismounted.

“No, Ma’am,” M. Fields answered, “Just Ms. Patterson, who is doing well.”

“What happened?” Prince Thomas asked the cook.

“It’s Lady Tremaine, Your Majesty. She is destroying everything that ever belonged to Cinderella or her mother. I covered my face with my arms as I ran past to safety and was hit with a flying piece of porcelain.” She held up her bandaged arm to show him.

“If only I’d worn my armor,” Prince Thomas XIV said to himself.

M. Fields passed him a shield.

“Thank you,” he said, impressed with the Housekeeper’s forethought.

Prince Thomas XIV and Franklin Gifford, Esquire to the Prince, entered the home of Lady Tremaine with caution.


	5. What is the Difference Between Endings and Beginnings Anyway?

When Cinderella, Prince Thomas XIV’s driver, and the Prince’s carriage reached her home, her sisters and the household staff were still waiting outside. She joined the group while the driver took care of the horses.

“What’s going on?” Cinderella asked.

“Prince Thomas and his Esquire are inside,” Drizelle started to say.

“What’s happened to you, Ms. Patterson?!” Cinderella exclaimed, interrupting her sister, who didn’t mind considering the circumstances. “She hasn’t gone and attacked you, has she?”

“No, Ma’am, nothing like that. She did…” Ms. Patterson struggled to say what needed to be said. “Ma’am, she...well, she broke your mother’s vases. One of the pieces hit my arm. I don’t think she really knew I was in the room through the haze of her mind.”

Cinderella’s heart filled with emotions she had never felt before, emotions she struggled to name. Her face hardened. Making up her mind, she began striding towards the gate. The staff and her sisters protested and begged her to stay outside with them where it was safe. She continued through the gate without a word or backwards glance. Her sisters followed her, still begging her to return.

“No,” she said simply. Her tone was intense. They stopped their begging and followed her inside.

Following the sound of voices through the house, Cinderella came to the doors to the drawing room. They were closed. Inside, she could hear the unmistakable tones of Prince Thomas’ voice, although the words were indistinct through the heavy doors. Lady Tremaine’s voice followed his. It sounded shrill.

“My, she sounds off,” Anastasia whispered.

Cinderella thought so too. The ice that had filled her heart and driven her to march inside to confront the household head who had harmed her house cook melted, but her resolve did not, for it melted in the warmth of compassion rather than in the heat of defeat.

Cinderella took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Please, I have something to say to her,” she said.

Her sisters nodded. She had complete faith they would give her the space to say her words. She hoped Lady Tremaine would as well.

Cinderella pushed the doors open.

“YOU!” Lady Tremine exclaimed. She was sitting on the floor in the far corner, where she had clearly been crying. The room was strewn with broken things her mother had collected for their beauty and ripped fabrics. Cinderella swallowed hard, recognizing some of her favorite winter outerwear amid the wreckage. Prince Thomas XIV and his Esquire sat a bit away from Lady Tremaine on a couch, facing her, with twin expressions of concern.

Lady Tremaine rose and moved to rush towards Cinderella. Prince Thomas and Franklin Gifford stood and moved between them, stopping her from moving forward with their mere presence. They did not touch her. Cinderella stepped through the door. Anastasia and Drizelle moved from behind Cinderella to stand next to her on either side, ready to defend their sister.

“GET OUT OF MY WAY,” Lady Tremaine screeched.

“I won’t let you harm her,” the men answered nearly in unison.

Lady Tremaine collapsed back into her corner. The men resumed their seats.

“You just had to be the one who lived, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?” Lady Tremaine said.

“What do you mean?” Cinderella said levelly, noting that Anastasia was working very hard to wait and let Cinderella speak. She also noticed, surprised, how little fear she felt about what Lady Tremaine might have to say.

“If you had died instead of him, we all would be better off,” Lady Tremaine snapped. The Prince opened his mouth but closed it again when Anastasia lifted her hand towards him and shook her head.

“How so?” Cinderella asked after a moment, with her heart clenched. The ticking of the grand clock standing near her seemed to seep directly into her mind.

“We wouldn’t all be pretending your gender is something it isn’t, for one thing.”

Cinderella chose that as her moment to say the words she had been silently forming.

“Lady Tremaine,” Cinderella said immediately, surprising everyone except herself with her lack of pause before she spoke, “you took a vow when our families were joined as one. The only people who can dissolve this family are us. If you wish to dissolve our family relation, then do. But do not continue to treat me in this vile manner. I am a woman, same as you. If you cannot accept that - if you cannot bear to accept me - then we ought not to be a family. My gender isn’t going to change, but our relationship to one another can.”

The room was silent for a long moment before Cinderella took a deep breath and continued again. The face of the Prince’s Esquire showed appreciative affection towards Cinderella while she spoke. No one noticed because everyone was focused on Cinderella, who was focused on Lady Tremaine.

“Before you married Papa, you were very kind to me,” she went on. “You called me by my name. You even celebrated my birthday every year with delightful company and lovely presents. Something changed when you married him. You stopped using my name when we were alone even before he died. Your grief makes sense. All our grief does. But you cannot blame what you are doing on grief because, in addition to grief being an inadequate excuse for treating another person so awfully, it also began before Papa’s death. I have one question for you: Why did you become my mother in the first place?”

Silence befell the room. Lady Tremaine was not known for long pauses.

“Well?” prompted Prince Thomas XIV after several ticks of the great clock behind Cinderella.

After some prying and false answers outwardly identified as false by Drizelle or Anastasia depending on the lie, Lady Tremaine finally admitted the truth. While she had loved Cinderella’s father, the real reason she had married him was to elevate her family into the royal tree of lovers. By marrying Cinderella’s father, Lady Tremaine hoped to gain social status for herself and her daughters which would allow them access to royalty for networking and matters of the heart.

“That’s absurd,” Prince Thomas XIV said. “Our Royal Family is equally available to all.”

Drizelle, Anastasia, Cinderella and Franklin Gifford grew uncomfortable.

“I think you’ll find that people who are not in the Royal Family may disagree,” M. Fields’ voice came from behind the three sisters. The Prince appeared first shocked, then chagrined.

“If that is the case, M. Fields, I thank you for bringing it to my attention. Esquire Gifford, please add this to my list. For now, let us focus on this household.”

Franklin Gifford took a small notebook from his pocket and opened it to where a ribbon marked the next blank page, and began to write.

“Lady Tremaine,” Cinderella said quietly. Everyone looked at her except Franklin, who was still writing. “It is clear to me now that you never wished to be my mother. Is that accurate?”

“Yes,” Lady Tremaine said. Her eyes were downturned, unable to look at Cinderella directly as she said it.

“Prince Thomas,” M. Fields asked, stepping into the room around the sisters, “does this admission not annul the family union?”

“It can,” he answered, “if Cinderella seeks it.”

“But would we then not be sisters?!” Anastasia exclaimed.

“We will always be sisters,” Cinderella replied firmly, “All three of us.” This time she surprised even herself with the rapidness of her response.

The room fell quiet again. The sisters embraced. Cinderella stared down over the heads of her sisters at Lady Tremaine. Lady Tremaine looked at the floor and shook. Franklin Gifford put his notebook away and looked at Prince Thomas XIV. Prince Thomas sighed.

“Cinderella, Anastasia, Drizelle” he said, “There are always empty rooms kept ready at the Palace. If you seek to dissolve your family union and create a new one with the three of you, I’m certain we could find you rooms there. Drizelle already works there which means that she and her family qualify for Palace housing under certain circumstances. I would testify that your current home is unfit for you to live in, considering the abuse suffered here under your legal head of household. Please consider coming to live at the Palace.” Turning his focus specifically to Cinderella, he continued, “Cinderella, as I mentioned earlier today, I am interested in building a stronger connection with you and this would make that much easier for us to accomplish in a realistic way as far as logistics are concerned.”

“Oh, wow!” Anastasia said.

“Live at the Palace?” Drizelle sounded uncertain.

“I…” Cinderella started. Everyone waited for her to find her words.

“I don’t quite like the idea of fixing my living situation with royal nepotism,” she finally said bluntly. M. Fields nodded slightly. Cinderella knew they were both thinking her late father would agree. “And, with all due respect to Your Majesty, and as much as I do genuinely enjoy our connection as it stands, I think you need to learn a little bit more about how the Kingdom works for people outside the Royal Family before I will feel comfortable being closer to you than I am now.”

Franklin Gifford flashed a grin before carefully hiding it again. Cinderella held her breath for what felt to her to be an impossibly long moment, uncertain how the second most powerful person in the Kingdom would respond to her rejection.

“Cinderella,” said the Prince after only two ticks of the great clock behind Cinderella, “I greatly appreciate your honesty. In lieu of pursuing that who does not wish to be pursued, I wish to express my love for you in a way that will benefit each of our subjects who are similar to you. Perhaps over time, that will help my love transition into the love a ruler ought to feel for all of one’s subjects.”

Eyeing Lady Tremaine for a long moment, Prince Thomas XIV made what can only be described as a princely substitution for a disapproving frown.

“Esquire Gifford, please take a note,” he said.

Franklin Gifford opened his satchel, and pulled forth parchment, quill, and ink. Even as he did so, M. Fields pulled a drawing board from behind a couch and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.

“Thank you,” Franklin said, with sincerity. The Housekeeper nodded and retreated to the corner near the grand clock, behind Cinderella. Cinderella noticed the kindness he used when addressing her family’s staff and felt her heart flutter again. She didn’t notice the Prince’s glance move from her to his Esquire and back again, or the slight smirk that appeared at the corner of his lips.

“From henceforth,” the Prince decreed, returning his gaze to look Lady Tremaine directly in the eye, “pending the approval of My Father the King of our Nation, imposing a gender upon another is to be considered by law an emotional assault in the form of attempted psychological manipulation, harassment and…” his voice trailed off.

“And abuse, especially in the case of minors and other dependents?” Esquire Gifford offered.

“And abuse,” the Prince said, nodding, “especially in the case of minors and other dependents.”

They waited in silence as Franklin Gifford completed writing the Princely Decree. The Prince continued to stare down Lady Tremaine as his Esquire wrote, the sound of the quill punctuated only by the ticking of the grand clock next to M. Fields. Cinderella was pleased. The Prince’s action was correct in her mind, if overdone as an expression of love. More importantly, the person her heart had most recently chosen was seeming better and better to her with each thing he said.

Franklin finished writing. M. Fields moved to return the writing board to its hidden place as he packed up his writing gear. He thanked the Housekeeper again. Cinderella noticed. The Prince noticed Cinderella noticing.

“Come,” the Prince said, “Let us return at once. The sooner this is law, the better. It is a shame that there is cause for such a thing to be written into the books.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cinderella said.

“Prince Thomas,” M. Fields interjected, “I understand that you are probably very familiar with the law considering your station, but there is nothing that makes mental illness illegal, as that would be absurd. The breakage of family items can qualify as domestic abuse of course, but whatever Lady Tremaine is suffering from needs treatment, not punishment.”

“I am PERFECTLY FINE,” the woman screeched. “How DARE you suggest such a thing?!”

“Hmm. I see your point,” said the Prince. Lady Tremaine looked at him agape.

“Prince Thomas, if I may?” asked Esquire Gifford. He remembered that the Prince had told him to call him Thomas in this house, but after Cinderella’s rejection of the Prince’s love, he decided to follow the Prince’s return to formal address.

“Yes, Esquire Gifford,” the Prince said, “Proceed.”

“Cinderella, Anastasia, Drizelle,” he said, reaching into his satchel, “here are some resources that may help you.”

Esquire Gifford handed them pamphlets with information about people who could help Lady Tremaine. Some would come to call. Others would have her live with them. Still others would have her visit them periodically for treatment.

“The three at the top of this list are where I would start,” he suggested. “They specialize in diagnostics.”

“Thank you, Franklin,” Cinderella said.

“Yes, thank you!” Drizelle said.

“Oh come now, you really think something like this can work on someone like her? She belongs in prison!” Anastasia exclaimed.

“Prison?! PRISON? I have done nothing wrong!” exclaimed Lady Tremaine.

Drizelle picked up a piece of a broken vase.

“Oh? Then, what happened to this?” she said, holding it up.

“This house must be purged!” came the deranged response.

“Mother,” Drizelle said, dropping the piece and approaching her mother to kneel in front of her, “You are unwell. I know you don’t believe that, but it is true. This is not like you.”

“I am fine!”

“Do you feel good?”

A long pause ensued. Lady Tremaine did not answer. Drizelle offered her hands. Lady Tremaine took them. She felt her mother’s hands tremble in hers.

“Mother, do you feel happy?” Drizelle asked again.

Tears appeared at her mother’s eyes.

“No,” she said softly.

“If someone on that list can help you feel happy again, do you think it’s worth trying?”

Another uncharacteristically long pause.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Maybe?” Drizelle asked.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Lady Tremaine asked in a fear-soaked voice.

“What if it does?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it is canon that Cinderella is both trans and Autistic. In case anyone's still wondering.


End file.
